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Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers Prepared by: Darren S. Baldwin and Kerry L. Whitworth 3 201 December Draft Report [Update Insert report title here MDFRC Publication XX/2011 Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers This monitoring project was commissioned by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office. Copyright © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia, 2014 ‘Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers’ is licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia for use under a Creative Commons By Attribution 3.0 Australia licence with the exception of the Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia, the logo of the agency responsible for publishing the report, content supplied by third parties, and any images depicting people. For licence conditions see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/ This report should be attributed as ‘Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Commonwealth of Australia 2014’. The Commonwealth of Australia has made all reasonable efforts to identify content supplied by third parties using the following format ‘© Copyright, [name of third party] ’. Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the Minister for the Environment. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. ii This report was prepared by The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre (MDFRC). The aim of the MDFRC is to provide the scientific knowledge necessary for the management and sustained utilisation of the Murray-Darling Basin water resources. The MDFRC is a joint venture between the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, La Trobe University and CSIRO (through its Division of Land and Water). Additional investment is provided through the Australian Government Department of the Environment. For further information contact: Dr Darren Baldwin The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre PO Box 991 Wodonga Vic. 3689 Ph: (02) 6024 9650; Fax: (02) 6059 7531 Email: [email protected] Web: www.mdfrc.org.au Enquiries: [email protected] Report Citation: ‘Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Commonwealth of Australia 2014’ Baldwin, D.S. and Whitworth, K.L. (2013) Report prepared for Commonwealth Environmental Water Office by The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre, MDFRC. Cover Image: Confluence of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers Photographer: Mr David Wood (MDFRC) Filename and path: Projects/CEWOO/Blackwater monitoring/Final Report/Murrumbidgee Blackwater Draft Report Author(s): Darren S. Baldwin and Kerry L. Whitworth Project Manager: Darren S. Baldwin Client: Commonwealth Environmental Water Project Title: Monitoring the effects of environmental flows on hypoxic blackwater in the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers Document Version: Draft Acknowledgements: The authors acknowledge the assistance of the NSW Office of Water, the Mallee Catchment Management Authority, Thiess Services, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Adrian Clements, David Wood, Braeden Lampard, Greg Cranston, Brendan Curtin and John Pengelly. iii Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2 2 Commonwealth Environmental Watering ......................................................................... 3 3 Site and event description .................................................................................................. 3 4 Methods ............................................................................................................................. 8 4.1 Existing water quality data .......................................................................................... 8 4.2 Additional monitoring ................................................................................................. 8 4.2.1 DOC analysis ..................................................................................................... 11 5 Results and Discussion .................................................................................................... 11 5.1 Water quality in the Murrumbidgee River ................................................................ 11 5.1.1 Dissolved oxygen ............................................................................................... 11 5.1.2 Dissolved organic carbon ................................................................................... 13 5.2 Water quality in the Murray River ............................................................................ 14 5.2.1 Dissolved oxygen ............................................................................................... 14 5.2.2 Dissolved organic carbon ................................................................................... 17 5.3 Mixing at the junction of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers ............................. 18 5.4 Use of mixing models to predict DO and DOC ........................................................ 20 5.5 Impact of environmental water delivery on downstream DO ................................... 23 6 Guiding principles for using environmental flows to mitigate hypoxia caused by blackwater. ............................................................................................................................... 25 7 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 28 8 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 28 9 References ........................................................................................................................ 29 iv Executive Summary Hypoxic blackwater is characterised by a high concentration of dissolved organic carbon and low concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water column. Hypoxia can be stressful or fatal to many aquatic organisms. Hypoxic blackwater was generated on the Murrumbidgee River floodplains during summer and autumn flooding (from rainfall) in 2012. Very low dissolved oxygen was recorded in the river channel downstream of Balranald for upwards of a month. Inflows of this water into the Murray River also posed a risk to water quality in the Murray downstream of the confluence, especially when Murray discharge began to recede while Murrumbidgee discharge remained high in April 2012. In order to provide and maintain oxygenated refuge habitats for aquatic animals along the main stem of the Murray River, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office delivered an environmental flow through the Murray River system of up to 120,000 megalitres. This was in addition to pre-existing environmental flows in the system. Examination of mixing patterns at and downstream of the junction revealed that Murray River water mixed completely with the hypoxic Murrumbidgee water within 5 river kilometres. Dissolved oxygen profiles also showed that a corridor of oxygenated water persisted past the junction, which would have created oxic refuges and facilitated the passage of biota upstream to oxygenated water. The impact of the additional environmental water delivery on downstream water quality could be predicted with reasonable accuracy using simple mixing models. Under a worst case scenario the base flow in the Murray River during the hypoxic blackwater event was predicted to fall as low as 1800 megalitres per day. Modelling showed that the additional environmental water delivered in this study would have substantially improved water quality downstream of the confluence of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers if base flows had fallen to 1800 megalitres per day. 1 1 Introduction Blackwater is characterised by a high concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water column. Transfer of organic carbon from floodplains to the river channel is vital for the sustenance of riverine food webs. However, microbial respiration of this carbon consumes oxygen and if oxygen consumption exceeds re-aeration, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations fall. This is known as hypoxic blackwater (Howitt et al. 2007). Hypoxic blackwater is often responsible for fish kills and other adverse effects on aquatic biota. Oxygen concentrations below 4 mg/L are generally considered to impose stress on aquatic biota and many biota cannot survive if DO falls below 2 mg/L (Gehrke 1988). Blackwater events occur most frequently in lowland rivers with forested floodplains (Hladyz et al. 2011, Howitt et al. 2007). The majority of lowland river-floodplain systems in the southern Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) were impacted by a prolonged and extensive hypoxic blackwater event between September 2010 and April 2011. This was triggered primarily by unseasonal, post-drought